By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech baseball team couldn't pull off the three-game Ohio Valley Conference series sweep Sunday afternoon, as in-state rival Belmont (29-23, 15-12) defeated the Golden Eagles (27-22, 14-13), 7-1, at E.S. Rose Park in Nashville.
After being shut down in the first two games of the series, the Bruin offense release some frustration early, plating three in the first inning to give its starter, Dylan King, plenty of room to work with. The rookie kept the Golden Eagle offense at bay for seven innings, holding the visitors to one run on five hits.
Trailing 4-0 headed into the top of the seventh, sophomore slugger Chase Chambers ripped a single to right center field with one out. He immediately advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and, after a base hit to left field off the bat of sophomore David Garza, made it to third.
Senior catcher Connor Goodspeed took his turn at the plate, waiting until the second pitch to launch a towering fly ball to center field, sending it deep enough to score Chambers on the tag up for a sacrifice fly.
While the Belmont pitching staff held the Golden Eagles to just the single run, it did represent the 150th straight game that Tech avoided a shutout, having scored in every contest since a 4-0 loss to No. 2 Vanderbilt back on March 1, 2014.
Despite the loss, the Tech squad will head into its final week of the regular season with a one-game lead over Murray State and next weekend's opponent, Eastern Kentucky, for the No. 6 seed and final spot in the OVC Tournament.
Prior to the weekend series in Cookeville, the Golden Eagles will play host to UNC Asheville in the team's final midweek contest of the year, a 2 p.m. match-up at Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express Baseball Complex.
Photo by Tony Marable
